Getting my Ora RP to grow upwards

[TonyV]

So I have a frag of Ora Red Planet that just keeps growing out over the frag plug and onto my frag rack. It has just two small branches (1/4" and 1/8") that are protruding upwards but their growth is not spectacular. I'd like it to grow upwards and branch out instead of just encrusting the plug and my frag rack. Any suggestions? The mother colony is beautiful and I hate having to un-stick it from the rack while it matures enough to move it to it's final destination.

 

[jg2269jg]

all sps are going to grow a nice base before growing upwards. it is the nature of the corals so they dont have to risk falling over. imo

 

[justins13]

My friends did the same... but once it got a nice base it really took off!:eek1:

 

[mockery]

Does your RP keep its green? I have a pretty good size frag that has lost all of the green And suggestions?

 

[travish]

I had my rp in high light, right under 400watt halides... No green. I moved it under 250 watt halides and to the bottom of the tank and the green is really nice now. The growth rate didnt change when I moved it.. It just colored up alot better.

 

[keith1ocean]

I have a couple of frags from a mother colony which were about 1 cm diameter pieces about 10 months ago. One, which is in lower light and about a foot below the surface has spread out to about a 3 cm diameter flat base and is medium to dark green. The other, located only a few inches below the surface and directly under a 250 W MH lamp has about the same 3 cm diameter base but has put out a cluster of vertical branchlets within the last 4 months which are up to 5 cm in length. It also has a totally different color - dark to medium pink.

 

[MikeandNicole]

Mine did that also, had a little nub in the middle and just kept encrusting over the frag plug and onto the live rock. Then it shot out a piece of growth straight up, grew quickly too. The nub has not grown at all so go figure. Mine kept the green color under a 250w MH and T5s.

 

[TonyV]

Interesting. I'll keep waiting.

 

[brannock_16]

Wait it out. Once the base grows and if it continues to grow horizontally you can try to switch up the flow and try to encourage vertical growth.

 

[eros]

My friends did the same... but once it got a nice base it really took off!:eek1:

Same thing happened to mine. It did nothing but encrust for months then it started to take off.

 

[pwoller]

Same thing happened to me encrusted like crazy but was all red, I wanted the green so I moved it down and all of a sudden I had a green base and growth up instead of just out.